Our View: It was a good week for stories about jobs, people helping people

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Rockford Register Star

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Posted Aug. 24, 2014 at 4:00 PM

Posted Aug. 24, 2014 at 4:00 PM

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On the menu: Editorial stew

Editorial stew is kind of like the real thing.

We take a bunch of issues and chop them down to the bare essentials and put them into one editorial...

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On the menu: Editorial stew

Editorial stew is kind of like the real thing.

We take a bunch of issues and chop them down to the bare essentials and put them into one editorial pot. It’s an editorial briefs package, but it’s boring to call it that. Stew was meant to be a weekly dish served Mon­days, but we often have leftovers or serve it up later in the week if meatier topics prevail.

It began with news of AAR Corp.’s decision to place a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, or MRO, at Chicago Rockford International Airport.

It ended with us learning that the Winnebago County Violent Crime Task Force has begun to put a dent in Rockford’s high crime rate.

Along they way, we were impressed by the nimble response of city officials and organizers of Rockford’s City Market to a damaged parking deck, and we witnessed once again the caring nature of this community in the efforts of volunteers who took matters into their own hands to provide a home to a veteran and his family.

Here are the particulars.

Cleared for takeoff: It’s impossible to overstate the significance of Monday’s announcement that RFD soon will become home to an MRO that’s expected to employ at least 500 people within the next few years — and perhaps a thousand or more, according to AAR Corp. CEO David Storch.

And these are good jobs, expected to pay $50,000 a year to start. Those are the jobs we need — ones that support families.

Congratulations and thanks to all who helped make this happen. Mike Dunn, the irrepressible airport director, was tireless in pursuit of the deal. He had lots of help, of course, from people like Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn. And AAR wouldn’t be headed to Rockford if Rock Valley College hadn’t agreed to expand significantly its aviation maintenance program, ensuring that the MRO will have a certain supply of well-trained workers. Credit RVC President Mike Mastroianni and his board for that.

In AAR, the Rockford region will be gaining a constructive corporate citizen whose values and commitment to its customers will make it a great fit with the rest of the area’s business community. Welcome aboard.

Making a house a home: Most of us are fortunate to be able to take for granted the roof over our heads, forgetting that life isn’t quite so easy for some of our neighbors.

That wasn’t the case for military veteran Anthony Birdwell, his wife and their two sons. A health problem ended Birdwell’s military career five years ago, and since then the family has struggled. Most recently, the Birdwells have been living in housing provided by Shelter Care Ministries, an outreach of Rockford’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

Now, the Birdwells are on the cusp of having a home of their own thanks to a collaboration among Home Depot, Jeremiah Development, the city of Rockford and Winnebago County, and a small army of volunteers who are renovating a 129-year-old house on North Winnebago Street. Kudos to all who are helping the Birdwells.

Page 2 of 2 - The market goes on: Swift work by the brain trust behind the Rockford City Market ensured that the market opened as usual on Friday, three days after a portion of the Water Street parking deck that houses the market collapsed.

The excitement began when an 18-inch-by-12-foot chunk fell from the top level of the parking deck onto a car parked on the lower level. Within hours after the incident, market coordinator Cathy McDermott declared that the market would go on, and so it did.

We’re glad. The City Market, though just 6 years old, has become one of our favorite Rockford institutions.

A bite out of crime: In a week that began with the game-changing announcement at Chicago Rockford International Airport, it would have been easy to overlook the positive news out of the Winnebago County Violent Crime Task Force. That group reported a 21 percent drop in shots-fired incidents this year compared with 2013.

Hydra produced 18 arrests in June and July, but the number itself doesn’t tell the whole story. Remember, the mission of the Violent Crime Task Force is to get the worst, most violent criminals off the streets and behind bars. That’s 18 fewer bad guys on our streets.